This invention relates generally to butchering, and more particularly to a chicken tender cutting machine for use with a breast deboner, to permit removal from the rib cage of the tenders along with the breast meat.
One way of removing breast meat from the rib cage is to tear it off by pulling the wings down after the shoulder joints have been cut and the breast muscles have been preliminarily cut in the vicinity of the shoulder. A number of machines have been developed for this function. With proper preparation and pulling direction, all of the pectoralis major, and other muscles, can be removed in one piece, to be sold as boneless breasts. The tenderloins (or "tenders") do not follow the pectorales major in such a process, being only light adhered to them, and being firmly connected to the rib cage near the shoulder and along the keel or sternum.
The tenderloins, which are particularly tasty, are usually cut from the rib cage after the overlying breast meat has been removed. It would, we believe, be desirable to enable packers to remove both the breasts and the tenderloins from the rib cage at one time, both for the sake of efficiency, and to enable the packer to offer boneless breasts including the tenderloins as a single item.
Tenderloins pose special difficulties for automatic butchering, because they are partly covered by the wishbone, and because they are connected for a substantial length along the keel.